At least 25 die in Bolivia bus crash

Published 5:30 am, Monday, September 2, 2002

LA PAZ, Bolivia - At least 25 people died when a bus plunged off a cliff in Bolivia today on a "highway of death" that snakes through canyons in the landlocked Andean nation, police said.

The bus, carrying 45 passengers, tumbled about 650 feet off the highway in the region of Sacramento, 56 miles north of La Paz. Rescue workers pulled bodies out of the wreckage and aided the injured despite driving rain.

"We know there are about 25 dead," police Capt. Damian Cruz told local radio. "We're praying there won't be any more dead."

At least 65 people have died this year on the narrow road known as "the highway of death," which snakes through the impoverished nation from the Amazon jungle to the Andes.